Offense specialization and versatility has been explored previously in the prior criminal
records of sexual offenders. The present study expanded these findings by examining
offense specialization and versatility in the postrelease offending of a sample of
sexual offenders referred for civil commitment and released. Criminal versatility (not
limiting one’s offending to sexual crime) both before and after commitment was the
most commonly observed offending pattern in the sample. Specialist offenders (those
for whom sexual offenses constituted more than half of their total number of previous
arrests) were more likely than versatile offenders to specialize in sexual offending on
release, perhaps indicating that specialization is a stable offending tendency. When
compared by referral status, recidivism records indicated that offenders who were
committed for treatment were more likely than observed, noncommitted offenders
to specialize in sexual offending on release. When compared by offender classification,
child molesters and offenders with mixed aged victims were much more likely than
rapists and incest offenders to specialize in sexual offending on release.